Oeiras (Portugal): Sania Mirza and Cara Black won their first title of the season with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 win over Eva Hrdinova and Valeria Solovyeva in the final of the Portugal Open here on Saturday.
The top-seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair, playing their third final of the season, were tested by the Czech-Russian team in the summit clash.
Before this, Sania and Cara had ended as runners-up in Indian Wells in March and in Stuttgart event last week.
Meanwhile, Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain won her first career title in the women’s singles, while top-seeded Tomas Berdych eased into the men’s final by beating Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-2.
Suarez Navarro outlasted Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in their final. The Spaniard had lost her previous five finals, including last year’s tournament in Oeiras. She will head back to Spain to play in the Madrid Open before looking toward the French Open.
“For me, it’s a very special moment of the season, because we don’t have a lot of tournaments on clay,” Suarez said. ”Now there’s Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, which to me is the best tournament of the year.”
Berdych will face Carlos Berlocq in Sunday’s final after the Argentine defeated Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (2), 6-2. (Agencies)